Max Beerbohm

“No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt.”

“Most women are not as young as they are painted.”

“To destroy is still the strongest instinct in nature.”

“A hundred eyes were fixed on her, and half as many hearts lost to her.”

“Some people are born to lift heavy weights, some are born to juggle golden balls.”

“The Non-Conformist Conscience makes cowards of us all.”

“Of all the objects of hatred, a woman once loved is the most hateful.”

“Incongruity is the mainspring of laughter.”

“We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans.”

“You will find that the woman who is really kind to dogs is always one who has failed to inspire sympathy in men.”

“Good sense about trivialities is better than nonsense about things that matter.”

“The delicate balance between modesty and conceit is popularity.”

“Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs.”

“To mankind in general Macbeth and Lady Macbeth stand out as the supreme type of all that a host and hostess should not be.”

“To give an accurate and exhaustive account of that period would need a far less brilliant pen than mine.”

“One might well say that mankind is divisible into two great classes: hosts and guests.”

“Anything that is worth doing has been done frequently. Things hitherto undone should be given, I suspect, a wide berth.”